I swear I'm still Alive

[tako]

So, I disappeared kind of shortly after my move to GA. I was without internet for a few weeks, then school started and was way more hectic than I anticipated, then I had to complete and submit my admittance portfolio review for the art school (omg I passed!), then during my break I had NO computer (It broke, Dell "fixed" it so well they had to send me a replacement for it...2 months later...), and then school has started up again after the break and I'm even busier than before!

I still have not found a job since moving.

My boyfriend's back problems are not getting any better, even with nearly twice a week physical therapy and other at home exercises.

My health is not so great, but I am managing!

I've cut back on the amount of ferret forums I frequent. I'm one of those people that gets depressed when something they really really want and have been looking forward to has been taken away from them. Even if it is only temporary, it will be a long, long time until ferrets are a possibility for me and I can't stand seeing 4 forums full of people happy with an animal that I was so looking forward to owning once I moved out here. So, I'm scaling back and keeping up with the one that I find the most informative as pertains to how I plan to raise my critters in the future, and trying my best to overlook how far away that future is.

Happier news though: I passed my portfolio review. I was so stressed about it and now that's one huge hurdle out of my way. I'm officially accepted as a BFA major with the Lamar Dodd School of Art at University of GA! I thought I'd share the pieces of art I submitted. 5 works of art decided my future at the school. One could be in any medium of your choice, but had to expand upon the theme of "In Between." One had to be a dry medium self portrait. The other three could be anything of your choice. I am most proud of my self portrait


(Title: Dorothy Never Had Shoes Like These)


(this is the "In Between" one. I love how the sky and stone turned out, but I really don't like the figure.)


(I'm really fond of this one too)


(My self portrait, I'm so proud of this one )


(It's my Octoportrait )

[nwheather]

Those are beautiful pics!!! Congrats on your accomplishments so far!
We miss you here & hope that you can come back soon! =-)
I hope you & your boyfriends health both start improving!!
Please keep us posted!

[tako]

Just in case it wasn't clear this is the forum I'm sticking with for the time being everyone

I'm doing my best to check in at minimum of once a week, but I'm soooo dead at the end of the day most of the time that I don't even have the energy to do more that check my email, journal, and sometimes not even facebook. And this is without even adding part time work hours to the picture, which I hope I can do soon (well, want to not really, need to yes)

Jordan is definitely going through with gastric bypass surgery now, partially because getting the weight off asap will vastly help diagnose -exactly- what is wrong with his back (it's pretty serious, he has almost no feeling from the waist down and is having HUGE problems getting around, relying heavily on a walking stick). The only problem is that insurance will only pay for so much of it, so we're trying to think of ways to raise money for the rest of it. His mother is raffling off a really gorgeous quilt and tickets to win it will be $10, she set up a discounted rate for 3 at a time too, but I forget what it was (maybe $25, but don't quote me on it). As soon as I have pictures of the quilt and we get it figured out exactly how we'll be running it I'll post them up here in case anyone is interested.

[tako]

Okay, this time I'm probably back for good. Hopefully anyway, hopefully because I have a very special bit of paperwork going through the local animal control center. I filed adoption paperwork for a large male ferret, approximately 3yrs old today. I have a few concerns though, I'm worried it won't be approved unless our landlord is contacted directly. She won't have a problem with the animal at all, however she's either forgotten that we owe her a pet deposit, or has let it slide after meeting our two dogs and our cat, because it hasn't been brought up since the house was first shown to us, and she's seen our animals many times when coming to check on problems with the house.

We are very worried that if she were called about the prospect of another animal being added, that she would suddenly decide that we needed to pay the $300 deposit, which is not something we can do right now. I got a small cage for free off of craigslist that was previously used for a guinea pig, so it came with a lot of similar accessories, like food dishes and the like. The older ferret is being adopted for a very reasonable $50, that I will be using birthday money on. (Super happy 22nd birthday to me if this all works out, he's such a big cuddly love!)

The real point here is, how likely do you think the local animal control adoption center would be to understand the situation and why we don't want the landlord called. It's obvious that's we've had pets here without issue for several months, and we have a copy of the pet agreement that states that they're okay...

I just really hopes this all works out, I've gotten extremely attached to him, and I've gone and done the stupid thing by naming him already. He's mostly white with some black tips and dark eyes...lending him sort of a grey cast. Owing to him being a wandering adoption case I went with the name the elves gave Gandalf the Grey in Lord of the Rings, as it literally translates to "grey wanderer." He'll be Mithrandir, or Mith for short, if he gets to come home.

[sherrylynne]

I know here, they want a written agreement from landlords before they'll allow you to adopt. It's the only way they've been able to come up with to prevent people from adopting, then returning because the landlord said "NO" once the animal was discovered.

[tako]

Yeah, that's the one thing we're worried about. We know the landlord won't say no to another animal, we have three other animals no problem, and a fish tank, she doesn't care because we look after our animals, keep things cleaned up, they aren't destructive, etc and she's seen that. We are just reeeeally worried that if we asked her about it in such formal terms it would remind her that she could technically still get $300 out of us based on the lease.

If it comes down to having to field the question directly to the landlord, needing a written agreement, etc, the boyfriend's mother (we live with her right now) might say no and put a stop to the whole thing, since it was a two day ordeal convincing her I've done my research (for nearly 7 years in fact), know enough about them to keep them, can fit his food into my budget, etc. She's just REALLY afraid that bringing up new pets in formal terms will remind her (the landlord) about the pet deposit.


I scrubbed down and sanitized the cage I picked up yesterday this afternoon along with the water bottle, food dish, and giant blue plastic igloo it came with (I seriously feel sorry for the piggy that lived his life in that cage with the igloo taking up half the space! Igloo is going to be an outside hangout and/or future feeding den at a later date). I'm terrified to put it in the space I made for it yesterday morning in my room though. I'm terrified to get anymore attached to the idea of finally having a ferret (one I'm already so in love with thanks to frequently visiting him at the pet store) and having him come home to that space, only to be devastated later, have an empty cage there, and worse yet an empty space in my room where the cage once stood.

[tako]

I guess I'm going to be talking to myself here maybe, but heeeey, it's destressing me...sort of. Tomorrow I should hear some news on my adoption application, so we'll see what the outcome is.

I think I've been gone on and off for long enough that, regardless of the outcome of this adoption, I'll throw a new introduction up for myself. There are a lot of new faces here that I don't recognize, and I've been gone long enough that who's to say who remembers me or much about me in the long run. I HOPE, HOPE, HOPE (all digits crossed) that my introduction thread this time around will include the introduction of a ferret as well.

[tako]

Well...he was adopted out from under me. I was told when I applied at Petland that I was the first applicant in line and would hear from them regardless and be given options before anyone else was allowed to take either one of them. I called 3 times on Friday trying to confirm that my application had gone through and no one could confirm that it had at animal control, they just kept saying that they would call Petland to find out. I tried on Saturday but with their short hours was never able to get a hold of anyone. They're closed Sunday. I called first thing after a job interview today and asked to speak directly to whoever deals with the Petland applications there. She called Petland for me, and was informed that they were both adopted over the weekend. So, either I was lied to about being the first applicant on the list for them and/or what that implied, someone there never really did send my application in, or they bypassed the system and gave him to someone else. I'm heartbroken.